Ben Cherington pulled off the biggest salary dump in MLB History in 2012, with his clearing the deck of Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett. He replaced them with savvy, playoff tested Veterans – on lower value, and year contracts. His club won the 2013 AL East (and the World Series of course) with the revamped squad – that improved almost 30 Wins from 2012. Last season, the club suffered another last place finish, however he dealt away Jon Lester for Yoenis Cespedes, and then turned that asset into Rick Porcello. The club also was able to sign Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval for this year, and have also inked Rusney Castillo and Yoan Moncada to long-term deals since last summer. The Red Sox are showing the way to handle a roster year to year. If you are in it, spend the money, and when you are out, trade anybody of value not in your long term plans.

The terrible news of Marcus Stroman‘s ACL earlier this week has dampened the chances the Toronto Blue Jays chances to really take a shot at the Division.

Let me qualify this more….

I think the Jays will compete all season, and may take a run at one of the Wild Card Spots for sure, it just at this time of the year, losing any pitching hurts big time.

Toronto is already lacking an ace, but that is not a cause for grave concern in this Division, with the AL East possessing exactly zero of them now, following the departures of Jon Lester and David Price in the last 9 months. But they are in trouble when it comes to depth versus the other clubs.Read the rest of this entry →

For the 2015 season, the staff will not cost much more money than this campaign, with the highest monies going to Kazmir ($13 MIL) the Bullpen doesn’t make much money, while only losing Gregerson, and most of the SP are on entry-level deals or 1st year Arbitration. The A’s payroll is slated to be right around $80 MIL in 2015 (down about $10 MIL from 2014), and the club should still be competitive, and if not, they have plenty of assets to trade near the deadline and reload for another run of success.

MoneyBall 1..MoneyBall 2… So we all have seen the movie or at least read the book – or heard about somebody referencing it all the time on the Baseball airwaves. Beane does it a different way, and he keeps the rest of the landscape second guessing.

This website has been one of the frontrunners of dissecting his moves over the last few years, and have accurately predicted a lot of what would happen with the terms of the club.

As much as the MLB Reports has loved the movements the team has done, we have not picked them to advance in the postseason in any prognostications, but we have continuously marveled on how the GM keeps wheeling and dealing.

Chuck Booth likened him to a “Baseball Rounder”, using a nice analogy from the world of poker.

The A’s GM is the best at creating value to his team but exercising all of the freebies in the league, coupled with knowing how to maneuver when the time is right.

Trading Josh Donaldson may come back to haunt him, but he did receive a plethora of young talented throwers, and perhaps Brett Lawrie will emerge into his talent after all.

Being a “Baseball Rounder” is being the smartest guy in the room, and knowing your opponents moves before even they do.

For a Year to Year Breakdown For all of the A’s players salaries please visithere

Chuck Booth’s 30 MLB Parks Trip World Record Page

In 2012, Chuck Booth attended a complete game in all 30 MLB Parks in just 23 calendar days, click the image of he and Larry Lucchino to read all about it.

The MLB BallPark Pass-Port Is A Must Purchase For Those Planning To See All 30

The Ballpark Passport is quickly becoming the favorite item among Ballpark Chasers, to chronicle their life goal to see all 30 Major League Parks. You are able to receive the stamps kit for a small additional price. At around $75 all combined, it will contain one of the biggest memento's ever for a Ballpark Chaser's best bucket list wish ever#Greatgiftidea

2:00pm: Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports the yearly breakdown (Twitter link). Snell will be paid a $3MM signing bonus and earn $1MM in 2019. He’ll then be paid salaries of $7MM, $10.5MM, $12.5MM and $16MM in the subsequent four seasons. That $16MM salary in 2023 can increase by up to $2MM based…

March 21: Bregman will be paid $11MM annually from 2020-22 before earning $28.5MM in both 2023 and 2024, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (via Twitter). He also has a 10-team no-trade clause for the 2023-24 seasons. March 20: The deal includes a $10MM signing bonus, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). That’s unusual for a…

March 21: Trout will make $36MM in 2019 and 2020 before earning $35.45MM annually over the remainder of the contract, Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times reports (via Twitter). March 20: The Angels have formally announced Trout’s extension. The contract was announced as a 12-year deal, though that term also includes the two years for…

The Marlins announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran outfielder Curtis Granderson while optioning fellow outfielder Austin Dean to Triple-A New Orleans. Three non-roster players — lefty Mike Kickham, righty Hector Noesi and catcher Rodrigo Vigil — were all reassigned to minor league camp, too. Miami now has a full 40-man roster. Grand […]

The Phillies announced Thursday that they’ve released four non-roster invitees to Spring Training: infielders Trevor Plouffe and Gregorio Petit as well as left-handers Edward Paredes and Jeremy Bleich. The Phils also optioned lefty James Pazos and right-hander Drew Anderson to Triple-A. Plouffe, 32, was the Twins’ primary third baseman from 2013-16 and provi […]